Chapter 448: The Group Whose Data Was Stolen
Within the small Yunze Cup group, after a brief silence, a heated discussion suddenly erupted.
The Breeder ranked ninth was asking what the Ladybug Marauders were.
The Breeder ranked seventh, who hailed from the Yuze Marsh Wizard Land within the Three Ze Lands, was asking how there could be a wizard in the Yunze Cup hiring Black Wizards to plagiarize others' data.
Clearly, he knew what the Ladybug Marauders were.
Among the Three Ze Lands, the Leize Lowlands were the most prosperous, followed by the Yunze Wetland. Because the overall landscape of the Yuze Marsh was entirely swampy and contained only some herbaceous magic plants and miniaturized magical creatures, its natural resources had always been at a disadvantage, making its development somewhat slower among the wizard regions of the Three Ze Lands.
However, all of the Three Ze Lands possessed a geological-level natural source of massive magic convergence: Yun Lake.
The total area of Yun Lake could even equal the sum of several Wizard Lands. Consequently, the natural magic tide of the Three Ze Lands was several orders of magnitude higher than that of other regions, making the Three Ze Lands themselves extremely prosperous.
Second only to the Star Domain Sea.
Besides that, Wizard Alaric from the Hui Ming Borderland immediately @-ed the third-place Yennefer from the Spiral Basin. "Old Six said the person who hired the Black Wizards is from the Spiral Basin. Old Three, don't you have anything to say?"
Locke and Yennefer spoke up in the group at the same time, forbidding him from using such outrageous nicknames again—Old Six and Old Three.
Yennefer also sent a message directly in the group: 'It wasn't me who hired them. An employer has no need to reveal their true origins.'
Wizard Alaric immediately replied:'Saying that seems reasonable on the surface, but you seem very familiar with the process of hiring Ladybug Marauders.'
Locke glanced at the text Wizard Alaric sent and almost wanted to give him a thumbs-up. This guy was truly a natural at digging for information; his questioning technique was quite skilled.
This saved him the trouble of testing the attitude of that contestant from the Spiral Basin himself.
Yennefer sent a message saying: 'I've heard of the Ladybug Marauders' reputation. Many people have had their research data stolen by them; they are victims.'
'This is normal; the wizards of Yuze Marsh clearly know this too.'
The seventh-ranked wizard from Yuze Marsh also joined the conversation. 'Indeed, the Ladybug Marauders are notorious, and many are victims. However, that organization has big figures behind it, which is why other similar organizations have been cleaned out more than once, yet this one still exists.'
'I also heard about this from my seniors. One of my seniors had OCD in his early years; he wanted perfect data for every experiment he did, along with a complete chain of evidence. An experiment that took others only three years to complete took him ten. Later, not even three days after he finished, the data was stolen by the Ladybug Marauders.'
'His papers were published first by several other people as the Ladybug Marauders sold his data to multiple buyers. My senior was so furious he almost jumped into Yun Lake to commit suicide. Later, he was talked down from the edge of Yun Lake by my mentor. My mentor used his connections to grant him a First Ring fund, which finally stopped his thoughts of self-abandonment and even forced him to cure his OCD.'
Yennefer sent a message:'See, it's normal to know about the Ladybug Marauders. Within the Breeder College of Nair University where I am, there are similar victims.'
'In short, Wizard Augustine, I truly had no knowledge of this matter.'
Locke sent a smiley face emoji in the small group and said nothing.
Nair University?
Nair University was that White Wizard organization that had a large number of Black Wizards, wasn't it?
Locke had later looked up information in the library of the Six Towers Land; the Spiral Basin and the Six Towers Land were two extremes.
The Six Towers Land had a rich environment but a poor system, leading to the overall decline of the Wizard Land. The Spiral Basin, on the other hand, lacked environmental resources but possessed powerful internal vitality, constantly absorbing resources and geniuses from external Wizard Lands to reach its current state, even boasting more than one Second Ring Wizard.
It was said that in the deepest parts of the Spiral Basin, there had even been traces of a Third Ring Wizard.
But there was an issue with the Spiral Basin: the distinction between White Wizards and Black Wizards was blurred. There were even features where a White Wizard in the Spiral Basin would take off their White Wizard robe to reveal a Black one, or vice versa.
Many wizards there were simultaneously members of the White Wizard Association and the Black Wizard Alliance.
Being unconventional and taking any talent available could be considered a unique characteristic of the Spiral Basin.
The center of the Spiral Basin was also connected to a very troublesome Plane in the void—the Rotting Deep Sea Plane—via a massive cluster of planar gates.
The Rotting Deep Sea Plane was a special Plane formed from the festering of a super-giant water element Plane whose ecology had collapsed. It was filled with foul-smelling water elements, so this Plane was something that was not very useful to the Wizard Civilization, yet acted like a pestilence.
The wizards of the Spiral Basin had a long-term need to resist the Plague Water Element Emperor from the Rotting Deep Sea Plane.
Therefore, that region had to endure both poverty of resources and immense war pressure. Under such pressure, the Spiral Basin made no distinction between Black and White Wizards and was extremely tolerant of ideological disputes.
Locke glanced at the small group. He had known from the start that asking questions in the group would likely yield no results, so he was just testing the waters.
First, it was to show that the other party's attempt to steal his data had failed.
Second, it was to warn the other party.
Third, it was to see if he could narrow down the target. For now, this Yennefer from the Spiral Basin was indeed suspicious and would need to be a key focus of his defenses later.
At the same time, Wizard Edgar David from the Sun Shadow Peninsula, ranked first in the group, actually sent a message for once. As soon as he appeared, he @-ed the second-place person and said: 'I also encountered the Ladybug Marauders on my end, but my laboratory is guarded by War Ancient Tree Treants. War Ancient Tree Treants possess a War Domain, which can automatically lock onto hostility and use the opponent's hostility to form a war field.'
'So, the Ladybug Marauder who infiltrated my lab wanting to steal my core data was discovered by me, and I killed him on the spot.'
'Second place, did anything happen on your end?'
'Who exactly is it that has so little integrity as to hire Ladybug Marauders to steal data during the competition? But you underestimate the Yunze Cup too much. In a competition like this, any wizard whose data can be stolen by you is destined to lose from the start.'
'The strong remain strong; a true powerhouse fears no challenge!'
From the first few sentences the first-place person spoke, Locke immediately sensed that the other party was a powerful and bloodthirsty individual. The Ladybug Marauders must have also tried to strike a deal with him, but he directly chose to kill the Black Wizard with his own hands rather than engage in a transaction that might benefit him.
It was evident that for him, satisfying his desire for slaughter, or rather satisfying his internal will, was a benefit in itself.
Moreover, the other party was also a score-obsessed elitist...
Good grief, this Wizard Edgar David came in and immediately @-ed the second-place person, seemingly not even acknowledging the third-place person.
Facing so many doubts, Yennefer, as the third-place contestant, sent a message in the group. 'I'm going to do my experiments.'
'To be honest, given the projects you people have, even if you actually manage to produce them, they wouldn't compare to my Mushroom King in the slightest. I have no reason to hire Ladybug Marauders.'
After that, Yennefer stopped replying to messages in the group.
Meanwhile, Alaric and the fourth-place Karel Knight from the Leize Lowlands were discussing heatedly, with the two of them guessing who exactly had hired the Ladybug Marauders.
Wizard Karel Knight said, "Anyway, regardless of who hired them, the employer and the people whose data could be stolen are certainly incompetent."
"How could someone truly capable have their data successfully stolen?"
At the same time, Witch Diana, the second-place contestant from the Yunze Wetland, finally made a rare appearance in the small group today. 'Um... I've been in my lab 24 hours a day, sleeping and eating there, and my students and partners are the same.'
'So I think the Ladybug Marauders shouldn't have had a chance to steal my project materials.'
'Still, thank you all for the friendly reminder. I'm going to be busy; today's experiment isn't finished yet. Sigh, all the wizards in my research group haven't slept for three months.'
'Everyone, I'm going to get busy. No more chatting.'
Locke's expression turned strange.
The second-place contestant from the Yunze Wetland seemed to be... a total workaholic. The entire research group hadn't slept once in three months?
That was simply too exaggerated.
The Ladybug Marauders certainly wouldn't be able to interfere with a research group like that.
There was simply no opportunity to infiltrate.
'Seeing that the second-place person hadn't spoken before, I thought she was a camper, but now it seems she's just been busy with experiments.' Locke thought to himself: 'The first-place Wizard David disdains communicating with us; the only opponent in his eyes should be the second-place Witch Diana from the Yunze Wetland.'
"As for the third-place witch, Yennefer, it's not even certain if she's a Black or White Wizard. She's suspected of being related to this large-scale hiring of Ladybug Marauders to steal data."
"The fourth-place is from the Leize Lowlands, the fifth is the inquisitive Wizard Alaric, I'm sixth, the seventh is a wizard from the Yuze Marsh, and the eighth, ninth, and tenth have all spoken in the group now."
"Well, the competition in this Yunze Cup is indeed fierce." After thinking for a moment, Locke decided to return to his premium laboratory in the White Dragon Tower to quickly put the inspiration he got from the battle with the Black Wizard into practical testing.
But at that moment, the grey mist slate suddenly vibrated.
The fourth-place Wizard Karel Knight from the Leize Lowlands, who had just been mocking in the group that those whose data was stolen must be incompetent, was now constantly @-ing everyone—
"Where are the documents and materials I left in my lab? Why are they gone?"
"You guy who hired the Black Wizards, listen up! Those were materials I made using my university's funds and First Ring fund money; they are assets belonging to our Leize Lowlands White Wizard Association!"
Wizard Karel Knight was frantic, elevating the status of his data. "Using Black Wizards to steal White Wizard Association assets is a serious violation of the law. I will report this; I will have you sent to the Wizard Prison."
"Give me back my materials now!"
The fifth-place Wizard Alaric from the Hui Ming Borderland, probably seeing how miserable he was, comforted him: "Don't be too angry."
"Cut your losses in time. Fortunately, the competition has only been going on for a month. Even if the materials were stolen, how much could they have taken? Just tweak your direction slightly, change it a bit, and you can use it again."
Wizard Karel Knight furiously typed: 'Yunze Cup entries require originality. If he uses my materials to get someone to publish papers, my work will lose its originality, and I'll lose the competition before it even starts.'
'Tweaking the direction now is easier said than done! Just going through the financial accounting, rewriting the project proposal, and the fund calculation sheet will take who knows how much effort. Using such petty tricks to sabotage people is truly devoid of ethics.'
'There must be a Black Wizard among us. The meaning of a competition is for all contestants to bring out their best to win, not just to win. The process of competing is a learning process in itself, but those Black Wizards will never understand that.'
Alaric posted a somewhat blunt message in the group. 'But didn't you say that people whose data can be stolen are all incompetent?'
'Just accept reality a bit; after all, this can be considered a form of lacking skill compared to others.'
Wizard Karel Knight directly @-ed Alaric. 'I bet the person who hired those Black Wizards is you.'
Wizard Alaric immediately got annoyed. 'Don't go biting people randomly, okay? I am a Golden Noble of the Golden Dynasty and enjoy great honor and privileges in the Hui Ming Borderland. How could I do such a thing! I was just trying to comfort you; didn't you see I'm the only one in the group acknowledging you?'
Following that, the two began to argue.
Seeing this scene, Locke directly closed the grey mist slate.
He had no interest in watching others argue.
Reading the messages in the small group earlier was just to observe the general personalities of his competitors.
However, that was just a side task.
Locke turned and left White Dragon Street, reporting the matter to the Plutarch Family to let them handle the follow-up of the incident.
Meanwhile, Locke returned to his premium laboratory.
At a spot 20km from the White Dragon Tower, Barbara the Witch came over and quickly told Locke that she had indeed found some chaos in the bills, but she had already gone to the finance office to readjust them and returned the excess money.
Locke nodded slightly to her. "I know. I've already resolved this matter. Solving it this way will save us a lot of trouble in the future."
"By the way, I need to conduct an experiment immediately. I have a new idea; help me call Montgomery over."